When staying alive means going bankrupt

Blue Shield stands by its service
Anderson, the Blue Shield spokeswoman, said the carrier has a clear path for handling customer problems. “On anybody’s card there is an 800 number, and you call that 24/7,” she said. "There’s a whole process. The key is you start with the customer service number, and anyone at that number should be able to help you.” Calls placed by MSNBC.com to the 800 number were answered immediately by Blue Shield representatives.

Thorne, the Ohio University professor, said that a larger problem illustrated by Aldrich's case is the out-of-control nature of health-care costs and insurance. "We already spend enough in premiums and co-pays that to be asked to pay tens of thousand more for health care is asinine.”

Indeed, Aldrich was paying 17 cents out of every dollar she took home for her Blue Shield policy when she ran up the disputed charges. And she recently got a “birthday card” from the insurer stating that now that she has turned 50, her monthly rate will rise to $619 — just slightly less than her $650 rent. In any year that she needs any major treatment, she’ll be liable for an additional $7,000 in deductible and co-payments, meaning that she would have to devote $14,428 — well over a third of her take-home pay — to health care.

It’s hard for Aldrich to talk about her situation without strong emotions, and some tears, surfacing. But she does not want to be seen as a pity case. She sees herself as a cautionary tale for average Americans: “It can happen to you.”

Her sister agrees, saying that the moral of this story is for people at all levels of the treatment and billing process to pay close attention to details and, especially, to listen. “They don’t realize how critical it is to be exact, what a nightmare it can be for someone else,” Fisher said.

Slide show Perspectives on health care A Daryl Cagle editorial cartoon roundup on the state of the U.S. health system. MSNBC

Amid the photos of family and friends, there's a sign on the wall over the TV in Aldrich's little living room. “BELIEVE,” it says, in 6-inch letters carved out of wood. And despite all that has happened to shake her faith in our health care system and doctors’ offices and insurance companies, Kathleen Aldrich still believes.

She believes in working, in getting up and going to the office every day and doing the best she can. She absolutely believes in paying her $619-a-month health insurance premium. She believes that someone is watching out for her. And she believes in love.

“I had some pretty dark times during chemo,” she recalled. “I spent a lot of time alone. I asked God, and I told him the one thing that I wanted to do was to love again, to feel how it feels to be in love and to have a companion.” She gazes fondly at a picture on a nearby table of a handsome man posing in the cab of a truck with a happy dog.

“I met Richard last year.  It’s a wonderful feeling to have a companion again and look forward to the little things in life that some couples maybe take for granted.  I feel pretty good about the way my life is right now.”

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